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It’s Krekorian and Essel in Dec. 8 runoff

>Assemblyman Paul Krekorian and businesswoman Christine Essell will face off in a a Dec. 8 runoff for the Los Angles City Council to fill the seat vacated by Wendy Greuel’s election tas City Controller.

Final returns from Tuesday’s election showed Krekorian, D- Burbank, with 4,929 votes, for 34.1 percent, and Essel with 4,101 votes, fro 28.39 percent, in a 10-candidate field. Los Aneles school board member Tamar Galatzan came in third with 1,871 votes, for 12.94 percent.
In heading to the runoff, Krekorian and Essel also bested a field of seven comunity and neighborhood activisits who had criticized the two for the amounts of money they had raised and for moving in to the district only to run for the City Council seat.The “Little Seven” of those identified themselves as grassroots candidates who have been active in the community through neighborhood councils and homeowners associations.

Much of the campaign focused on the political connections of Essel, Galatzan and Krekorian — as well as the fact that Essel and Krekorian moved in to the district only to establish residency so they could run for the $178,789 a year seat.

The Council District 2 seat, which stretches from Studio City to Sunland-Tujunga, was held by Wendy Greuel until she was elected city controller earlier this year. The term ends in 2011 and after that the incumbent would be eligible to run for three four-year terms.

Galatzan, a neighborhood prosecutor in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, also has had to fend off criticisms that she used her brief term on the Los Angeles Unified School District board — she was elected in 2007 — only as a stepping stone to higher office.

Krekorian, a Democrat whose district is based in Burbank but includes a portion of the City Council district, has had to fight similar arguments over his quick move to leave the Assembly.

He was first elected to the Assembly in 2006 after a career on the Burbank Board of Education and has moved up quickly. He now serves as the assistant majority floor leader.

Essel is a former executive at Paramount Pictures and has been involved in Los Angeles civic life, serving on city panels that included the Community Redevelopment Commission and the Airport Commission.